Reading for pleasure

Alexandra Giordano ‘16 – Technology continues to advance each day. Cell phones, hand held tablets, and the internet constantly change. With all of these distractions directly available to people of all ages, especially to young children and teenagers, the joy of picking up an actual book and reading for pleasure is very uncommon.

As a fan of reading books, I started to notice this while reading recreationally in school, other students would often ask, “What are you reading?” or even, “Why are you reading?”

The only response I could come up with was, “it’s fun.” Followed by, why don’t you read?

What students usually say back is, “I just don’t think reading is enjoyable,” or, “I have better things to do.”

If I think reading a book outside of school is fun, why don’t other students agree?

According to mtviewmirror.com, “This generation has more technology and we are too distracted. There are so many distractions on theInternet media, or watching TV, or on social networks, or working or just hanging out with friends, that we don’t find time to read for fun.”

There are so many technological and regular everyday life distractions taking away from the importance and actual pleasure behind reading.

Imagine a world without an iPhone, something that seems so simple. Think about how different this generation would be. All apps available, even Twitter and Instagram, would not exist.

Or even imagine a world without the basic television in each home. What would children and teenagers do for fun?

If such technology did not exist or was not improving each day, reading would still be popular.

Technology will always exist, and will never stop changing. What has to change are the people who are distracted.

According to, LifeHack.org, reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body. Reading a great story can improve your mental stimulation, reduce stress, improve knowledge and memory, and expand vocabulary. Technology by no means is a bad thing. High-tech convenience is something this generation owns over others. But it’s perfectly okay to put down the screen for just twenty minutes, and instead pick up a book. You never know unless you try.